Bungie signs exclusive 10-year deal with Activision

While Activision's relationship with Infinity Ward is going down the tubes, the mega-publisher has teamed up with some fresh, but all-too-familiar talent. Bungie, the studio behind Halo, has inked a 10-year contract with Activision that grants the company exclusive worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices.

Before you shout profanities, Bungie will remain an independent company with ownership of its intellectual property -- at least for now, anyway. In a statement on its official blog, the developer said "Our Constitution remains unchanged. We are still Bungie, still independent, and now we are free to bring our stories to an even bigger audience."

Founded in 1991, Bungie was picked up by Microsoft in 2000 and eventually split from the software giant in October 2007 to become a privately held independent company. Although it's a separate entity, Bungie still creates titles in the Halo franchise, which Microsoft now owns. The studio is currently juggling several projects, including Halo: Reach and a new IP.